ONCE Foundation was created in February 1988 by agreement of the ONCE General Council, and was presented to society in September of that same year, as an instrument of cooperation and solidarity of blind people in Spain with other groups of people with disabilities for the improvement of their living conditions.
Since its origins, the blind group has had a vocation for solidarity with other groups of disabled people, depending on the possibilities of each historical moment. In the mid-1980s, with the coupon reform, ONCE was able to progressively incorporate non-blind coupon vendors, integrating more than 10,000 people with other disabilities between 1985 and 1987. A further step in this solidarity effort was taken in 1988 with the creation of the ONCE Foundation.
Objectives and lines of action
The mission of ONCE Foundation is to contribute to the full social inclusion of people with disabilities, helping to make effective the principle of equal opportunities and non-discrimination.
To achieve its mission, the ONCE Foundation determines as its main objectives or goals:
- The promotion of full employment integration of people with disabilities
- The promotion of professional qualification, labour competences and personal and professional skills, as determining factors of the level of employability of people with disabilities and, therefore, in the process of labour integration
- The promotion of universal accessibility and design for all
The main objectives or goals of the ONCE Foundation are developed bearing in mind two fundamental values:
- To promote solidarity and social cohesion by articulating actions, projects and programmes aimed at all people with disabilities throughout the country
- Along with the search for cooperation, collaboration and commitment of all administrations, institutions, agents and entities, public or private, involved in economic and social development
Likewise, the actions of ONCE Foundation are governed by the principles of:
- Good governance, transparency and excellence in the criteria and procedures for action, in the definition of its work priorities, in the use of its resources and the communication of its results.
- Complementarity with the actions of the public administrations, providing that the activities of the Foundation do not gradually become a substitute for the obligations of the public authorities in any aspect of policy on people with disabilities. However, it may cooperate with the administrations by adopting agreements or arrangements for the promotion of projects or programmes, provided that there is a significant contribution from the latter.
- Cooperation with the most relevant public and private agents, establishing relations of mutual trust and always looking after shared interests
- To ensure that all actions undertaken for the development of its goals have a social impact and capacity to transform social reality
- Social innovation, promoting initiatives, leading processes, projects and mobilizing all the agents and resources to achieve its goals
- Independence and impartiality from any public or private power
- Sustainability and respect for the environment in the development of all activities undertaken to achieve its goals
- Real and effective equality between women and men
Potential beneficiaries are Spanish entities, a legal entity, which, in accordance with their statutes, carry out an activity that coincides with that carried out by the ONCE Foundation in accordance with the provisions of the Statutes. Any person of Spanish nationality with a physical, intellectual, sensory or psychosocial disability may also be a potential beneficiary, in accordance with the current legal regulation and qualification of disabilities.
Exceptionally, the protective action of the Foundation may be extended, with the prior agreement of its Board of Trustees, and at the proposal of the Permanent Commission, to natural or legal persons of different nationalities who meet the aforementioned requirements. The beneficiaries must also meet the other conditions specifically established in the different plans and programmes approved by the Board of Trustees of the ONCE Foundation or its Permanent Commission.
ONCE Foundation shares with ONCE the same values, including: Communication, Solidarity, Confidentiality, Fairness, Trust, Honesty, Humility, Respect, Commitment, Professionalism and Responsibility